I’m not starting a political post here. We have all seen the horrific pictures of flooding in Houston area. First all I hope everyone makes it out safely.
Watching the news coverage, there are tons of cars underwater. Many of these will make it out in the used car market very soon. So buyers beware and be on the look out if buying used cars.
These cars will flood the market in the coming months and this will drive a huge need for new and used cars in the Houston area. Given that the Houston area has 7+ million people, it is Texas where almost everyone has a auto or two. My guess is there will be a million+ autos flooded.
Keep in mind that carfax type of services will not report a flooded car that does not have a insurance claim filed on it. So be sure and have a mechanic inspect your used car purchases closely.
I would think that the WWII type DUWK boats/trucks would be ideal for rescue work in Texas. I just saw one rescue video where someone flagged down some deputies towing a boat. They had to pull over, back the boat into the water somehow (not shown), get the guy out of the truck and reverse the process. Lengthy.
Too late now, but someone should have suggested sending the tour DUWK boats from Boston and other cities down to Texas to help with rescue work. Yes, I know they are privately owned, but the city mayors can put on pressure, and think of the publicity.
WW2 landing craft maybe. Duwk boats probably not. There are street signs and cars below the water. A boat with the V bottom I don’t think would be too effective.
Waaay better than duwk boats… Flat bottom airboats, flat bottom bayou boats and more. The Cajun Navy to the rescue!
Everything I’ve read about the Texas floods so far has been about people rolling up their sleeves and getting to work to help people. No one is sitting around waiting for someone else to save them. A neighborhood that was flooded found their local elementary school unlocked and they created their own shelter. Went out and stocked it with food and rescued stranded residents.
I had a pontoon boat for several years and it would seem that such boats would do well in operating at low speeds through flooded city streets. I put sonar on mine to avoid surprises in the water. But for people stuck on their roofs in the rain anything that can get them to a safe dry spot is the ideal transportation for the moment.
It’s difficult to make a good estimate on the flooded automobiles from television videos though as they keep running the same videos repeatedly and often different videos are actually the same area of flooding taken from a different location. Surely the flooding isn’t waste deep over all of Houston or even half of it.
You can be certain that flooding is widespread, Houston is FLAT. That’s not the same as “100% of Houston is flooded”. Here are shots of many different areas:
My co-worker did this CarTalk story after the last big U.S. flood about avoiding a used flood-damaged car. May help some folks in Texas and Florida in the coming months. I had no idea it was legal to re-sell a car that had been submerged.
I’m so cheap that, if it weren’t for mechanical and electrical issues with flood cars, I’d buy one, rip out the interior, replace the seats, and drive it. However, I hate dealing with hard-to-diagnose electrical issues.
I was surprised seeing footage of campgrounds with names like Bayou whatever with campers in them, I would have got while the getting is good.
We had a 5" rain, stepped in the little motorboat and first time in 60 years the boat sank, the water moved towards the back of the boat and it was all over.
Pulled the motor, then plugs turned it upside down shot some fogging oil in the cylinders, a few slow pulls on the rope, let the 7 horse dry out, and it has been fine ever since. That was maybe 5 years ago.
I saw a few larger boats sunk in the water, I doubt they will be salvageable.
I turned the news off when they started talking about how the number of complaints regarding “not given enough warning” and “no one warned us it would be this bad” were increasing…
Apparently, “Isaac’s Storm” should be required reading in schools there. It’s a book about the Galveston hurricane of about 1900 when an estimated 6 to 8k people lost their lives. The book could provide some food for thought as there are a lot of parallels… I’ve read it 3 times and soon to be 4.
As would ANYone with common sense, Barky! But common sense isn’t so common anymore!
There might be a problem with that. It is common for people to buy a trailer and have it towed to the campground where it stays year 'round… The buyers don’t own a tow vehicle so they can’t get outta Dodge before the storm hits. Or they just don’t care about the trailer because they don’t live anywhere near the trailer and can’t get there in time.
Permanent trailers are pretty common down here in Florida. I suspect they same for the Texas coast. They get plopped into campgrounds that are far too low to build houses on, that’s why they are campgrounds. So they become the first spots to get flooded. Same for mobile home parks. We’ve got a few nearby that are underwater right now because my area of Florida got 25 inches of rain over 3 days.
I personally would avoid a flood damaged car. I think Propane has given an excellent warning. These cars are going to pop up on markets nationwide, maybe worldwide, by the tens of thousands with “washed” titles, just as they did after Hurricane Sandy.
I was in NYC the year after Sandy. The bike that American Chopper did as a tribute bike to the NYC firemen was submerged in Salt water. I have pics someplace of the bike before they restored it. It was a rusted mess. Water is bad…salt water is worse.
But common sense isn’t so common anymore! 
